As Indonesians came to grips with a natural disaster that would forever change their lives, Church World Service went to work helping communities to meet immediate and long-term needs. In the initial days and weeks following the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster CWS worked alongside international ACT Alliance and other local partners to provide immediate help: emergency food, water, shelter and …
What a Difference 10 Years Makes
Matt Hackworth |
As Indonesians came to grips with a natural disaster that would forever change their lives, Church World Service went to work helping communities to meet immediate and long-term needs. In the initial days and weeks following the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster CWS worked alongside international ACT Alliance and other local partners to provide immediate help: emergency food, water, shelter and …
Indonesia Tsunami – 10 Years On
Michael Koeniger |
I vividly remember the collective gasp on the plane as we broke through the clouds near Banda Aceh and the coastline came into view for the first time; it was early January 2005 and below us was a scene of utter destruction that stretched as far as one could see. The tsunami had travelled far inland, flattening everything in its …
Home for the Holidays
Rev. Amy Gopp | December 24, 2014
At this festive time of year, I can’t help but recall the many Christmases I have spent away from home. I am mindful of so many in our world that can merely dream of being “home” for the holidays. Home, for some, is but a distant cherished memory, as they remain exiled in refugee camps or fleeing from conflict, environmental …
A Future with Hope
Joya Colon-Berezin | December 23, 2014
A few years ago, Church World Service created a short video titled A Future with Hope. The video invites congregations, and people of faith, to partner with CWS in the unique face-to-face ministry of welcoming refugees – acting as friends and mentors as refugee families resettle in the United States. The name for the video is inspired, in part, by …
CWS Training Provides Expertise, Hope to Southeast Michigan Flood Recovery
Carol Fouke-Mpoyo | December 22, 2014
DETROIT — “I just feel alone. Sometimes I want to just ball up in this cold, cold house and sleep all day and sleep all night.” That’s how Karen C.* of Detroit said she’s feeling now, more than four months since flash flooding resulting from torrential rain sent sewer and surface water gushing into tens of thousands of basements – …
Ongoing Michigan Flood Disaster not Hidden from CWS, Local Recovery Community
Carol Fouke-Mpoyo |
DETROIT — Southeast Michigan’s Aug. 11 flood disaster affected more people than any other U.S. disaster in 2014. Apart from a few hundred households still carrying sodden, ruined belongings to the curb, the disaster’s impact is no longer visible from the street. But Church World Service and the emerging local long-term recovery group CWS helped train on Dec. 16 know …
A Fukushima Mother’s Story
Yukie Hashimoto | December 19, 2014
Knowledge, empowerment, and future preparedness I have spent days that felt both long and short these three and half years since the Great East Japan Earthquake. The experience during these three years was something my family and I have never gone through before. My hometown is just 50km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The huge earthquake struck on …
Joint Statement on a New Era in U.S.-Cuban Relations
December 18, 2014
Council of Churches of Cuba Rev. Joel Ortega Dopico and U.S. Religious Leaders Delegation Rev. John L. McCullough, President and CEO, Church World Service Rev. Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Rabbi Elhanan ‘Sunny’ Schnitzer, President, Cuba America Jewish Mission PEOPLE OF FAITH throughout the United States and Cuba celebrate the dawn of a new …
Nuclear on agenda for World Conference in Sendai
Takeshi Komino |
At the 2013 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, a Japanese newspaper article stated “Nuclear will not be on the agenda of World Conference in 2015.” Someone was trying to advocate for this and the Japanese government’s stance was the same as this headline. They stated that the Hyogo Framework for Action should deal with natural disasters and …